Monday Miscellaneous: A Dozen Quotes and a Few Good Thoughts

Last week I finished Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for the third time. (Maybe fourth.) I'd not read it for quite a few years though, so even though much was familiar terrain, there were a few surprises. One was that the "N" word is used a few times in the book, which I will presume means that it's unlikely many schools are having students read it these days. The second thing that had been forgotten SPOILER ALERT was that the story didn't end with Kurtz saying "The horror." There's an incident that occurs afterwards that is also an important piece of the story, that adds a little punch after the other dark details have been shared.

I mention all this because I personally enjoy reading books that I've read before. After a span of years, and a few decades of life experience, great books can ignite new insights, convey new understanding that we'd missed earlier because we lacked the life experience. This is especially so with books we read in high school or college.

All this to say, just because you read it once doesn't mean you should be done with it. This is the best part of building a personal library.

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"Play is the exaltation of the possible."
--Martin Buber

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
--Thomas Merton 

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”
--Kurt Vonnegut

"Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols."
--Thomas Mann

"Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed."
--Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz."
--Humphrey Bogart

"A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist."
--Eleanor Roosevelt

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”
 --Dr. Seuss

“Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.”
--Charles Lamb

“Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.”
--Langston Hughes

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”
--Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.”
--John Lennon

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Seen On Twitter This Morning

THINGS TO GIVE UP

1. Negative thinking 

2. Living in the past 

3. Negative self-talk 

4. People-pleasing 

5. Fearing change 

6. Overthinking

* 

Nurture you inner flame and don't dive up the fight.

Have a great week!

Trending On Twitter: #MondayMotivation

Writing is in my DNA. When I look back on my life I see that I started a newsletter for nearly every organization, group or club that I was part of. The chess club, history club, even our bowling league in high school -- I saw a need for communication, and produced a primitive form of a newsletter, mimeographed in those days before copiers. I used my art/design skills and would come up with a cartoon for each issue as well as write summaries of the key events of the previous week.

In 1982, when I returned to the Twin Cities from a year in Mexico, I obtained temporary employment painting apartments till I sorted out what I wanted to do with my life. I'm not sure how it happened, but before long I was producing a one page newsletter as I had in high school, called the New Monday Memo. The owner of this loose association of painters, Terry O, liked the idea and the NMM became a useful communication vehicle. He came up with the name and wanted it written in an upbeat manner for the purpose of countering the prevailing drabness associated with going back to work on Monday.

It was a great concept. A shot in the arm. Fresh juice to start the week off on the right foot, to give one a lift.

Fast forward. 

One of the Twitter features that I like is the Trends list that runs alongside your Twitter feed. It's useful for identifying key stories or breaking news based on what people are talking about. It's how I learned about the Mumbai massacre before CNN or the local news outlets.

On Mondays one of the trending topics nearly every week happens to be Monday Motivation, or rather, #MondayMotivation with the hashtag. It's a social media phenomenon that shows our little team of room painters were on to something. A little uplift on Monday mornings can really help put wind under your wings as you soar into a new week.

Here ar a few gems from my Twitter fee this a.m.:

--Your Attitude Determines Your Direction

--Let your smile change the world.
Don't let the world dampen your smile.

--The only way to win with a toxic person is not to play.

--Setting goals takes Desire
But completing them takes Determination.

--Don't Make Excuses, Make Changes.

--Get out of your comfort zone and step into your great self.

You get the picture. Whether heading back to the office or the factory, to the fields or to knock on doors, if you need a lift check out the MondayMotivation hashtag on Twitter.

Have a truly great week. Thanks for checking in.